May 01, 2008 09:33 am
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Barack Obama talks about "hope" and "change." His rhetoric is easy on the ears and oh so seductive. Who doesn't want change? Everyone, from U.S. Congressmen to state legislators, knows that voters are unhappy with the status quo in Raleigh and Washington D.C. Now for Republicans to win, all they have to do is educate the voters and let them know that Democrats are in charge now, and real change means voting for a Republican.
Republican State Sen. Fred Smith's hundred county barbecue tour made a stop at Asheboro High School in January this year. At this gathering Sen. Smith spoke in part about the mismanagement in Raleigh, especially at the Department of Transportation and how Mike Easley raided the Highway Trust Fund a few years back. So much for trust.
Considering the condition of our roads, the waste and inefficiency at the DOT, you would think more people would be fed up with this type of betrayal of the public trust. I swear I've seen work crews dig two holes a half-mile apart along highway 15-501, and switch the dirt from one hole to the other. What madness!
And what a waste - especially since U.S. 64 from Asheboro to Lexington has been slated to be widened for at least 20 years. The state even bought up the land for the right of way, but still no extra lanes. Instead, U.S. 64 remains one of the deadliest stretches of road in the state. But no one seems to care. I guess the residents of that part of the state aren't paid up with the right people (i.e., Democrats) in Raleigh. And whatever happened to that loop around Asheboro we were supposed to get?
But neglect and incompetence is just small potatoes. Wilmington Democrat Thomas Wright was recently expelled from his seat in the N.C. House of Representatives after an ethics committee report found him guilty of embezzling money from charities he was involved in, as well as co-mingling campaign funds with personal money. He was subsequently convicted and hauled off to jail to join his buddy Former House Speaker Jim Black, also a Democrat.
A recent article in The Daily Tar Heel reported on the Thomas Wright ethics scandal. The entire piece neglected to mention he was a Democrat! I wonder why that is? At the annual N.C. Federation of College Republicans (NCFCR) a few days ago, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-5th N.C.) reported a statistic that over 40 percent of North Carolina voters believe the state Legislature is controlled by Republicans and that Jim Black was a Republican. And who can blame them with the stellar reporting in the media.
Mark Foley, Larry Craig and Jack Abramoff are all stamped with the pedophile, gay or disgraced Republican label. But Thomas Wright is simply "the Wilmington legislator" and Jim Black is simply the former Speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives.
As you can imagine this is a problem for Republicans running for national and state office. Congress has an approval rating lower than President Bush. People ought to be made aware that Democrats control Congress as well as Raleigh and hold them responsible. It turns out that corruption is not confined to the Republican Party, but is rather bi-partisan.
The Republican candidates for Governor are smart to position themselves as best able to clean up Raleigh. Sen. Fred Smith has hit the airwaves with his message that "government is broken" in Raleigh. Smith is positioning himself as the true conservative in the race and has a lot of institutional support among Republican stalwarts in the state government, not to mention the benefit of music legend Lee Greenwood's having written his campaign song.
Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory is also positioning himself as the man to reform Raleigh. He comes across as business savvy, proposing a reduction of the state income tax, and tough on gangs and illegal immigration. Some are skeptical of his stances on illegal immigration and taxes claiming McCrory's record as Mayor of Charlotte is less conservative than the image he now portrays. Regardless many Republicans think he is electable in the general election and are willing to compromise on McCrory just to release the Democrats' stranglehold on the Governor's mansion.
Neither Bob Orr nor Bill Graham seems to be in any danger of winning the primary. Orr, a former N.C. Supreme Court Justice, and Graham, a wealthy Salisbury lawyer noted for his successful grassroots "Stop the Gas Tax Hike" campaign, have failed to generate or maintain much support. Graham was once the front runner, but has since fallen from grace with the voters amid internal campaign turmoil and a disastrous public relations campaign resulting in a falling out with his main consulting firm Fetzer-Stevens.
To win, the Republican Gubernatorial candidates, and all Republican politicians, need to make sure the voters know the Democrats are in charge in Raleigh and D.C. and drive home the message that we need change - real change. Barack Obama isn't the only one who can ride the "change" bandwagon.
Tar Heel Dispatch is written by Tyler Younts, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Younts, who grew up in Farmer, has a passion for writing and for politics and for writing about politics. E-mail comments to news@randolphguide.com or directly to Younts at younts@email.unc.edu
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